Book Review: The Aliens: A History of Ethnic Minorities in America by Leonard Dinnerstein and Frederic Cople Jaher

In the sections on sociology more studies are named, but they deal
with population problems and internal migration. The reasoning
must be that immigration is an American rather than a Scandina­vian
topic (a tenable position), and that emigration is not im­portant
enough to handle thoroughly (this is not so reasonable!).
Despite these gentle strictures, for all who seek an English-language
understanding of Scandinavia this is a tremendously use­ful
volume.
FDS
Leonard Dinnerstein and Frederic Cople Jaher, THE ALIENS. A
History of Ethnic Minorities in America. New York: Appleton-
Century-Crofts (Meredith Corp.), 1970. 347 pp. Paper.
The value of this well-chosen collection of essays is in its breadth
and its challenge to comparison of the experience of different
ethnic groups. George M. Stephenson is allowed to speak for the
Scandinavians, Rudolph Vecoli for the Italians, W. E. B. Dubois
and Eldridge Cleaver and a Georgia peon for the blacks. Several
selections on the Indians and careful attention to the Chinese, the
Puerto Ricans, the Jews and the Japanese illustrate the tone and
purpose of the compilation. The editors have avowedly emphasized
"the harsher aspects of minority group experiences in the United
States," and assert that "our emphasis on struggle and ordeal reveals
our concern about past and present group conflicts in American
society." Such concern is laudable, and it is doubtless healthy for
those who have felt discrimination in only its minor and fleeting
forms to be aware of the more desperate plight of other groups.
It may help all of us to greater tolerance and speed the day when
we can all really live as brothers. However, the reader must keep
in mind this deliberate bias, and realize that he is not getting here
a balanced picture of the immigrant or minority group experience.
FDS
Caja Munch, Johan Storm Munch, and Peter A. Munch (translator
and compiler), THE STRANGE AMERICAN WAY. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1970.
The first and longest section of the book consists of letters from
Wisconsin, chiefly those written by Caja Munch to her mother in
Norway during the years 1855 to 1859. The spontaneity and naivete
of the young bride are refreshing if scarcely profound; a picture
of frontier life bursts forth in little puffs. At first there is the
glamor and newness and a honeymoon atmosphere both with her
man and with the strange but friendly new country. However, dis­illusionment
grows rapidly, and disgust with the crudities of con­ditions
and of people — it is hardest to adjust to the latter. The
111

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In the sections on sociology more studies are named, but they deal
with population problems and internal migration. The reasoning
must be that immigration is an American rather than a Scandina­vian
topic (a tenable position), and that emigration is not im­portant
enough to handle thoroughly (this is not so reasonable!).
Despite these gentle strictures, for all who seek an English-language
understanding of Scandinavia this is a tremendously use­ful
volume.
FDS
Leonard Dinnerstein and Frederic Cople Jaher, THE ALIENS. A
History of Ethnic Minorities in America. New York: Appleton-
Century-Crofts (Meredith Corp.), 1970. 347 pp. Paper.
The value of this well-chosen collection of essays is in its breadth
and its challenge to comparison of the experience of different
ethnic groups. George M. Stephenson is allowed to speak for the
Scandinavians, Rudolph Vecoli for the Italians, W. E. B. Dubois
and Eldridge Cleaver and a Georgia peon for the blacks. Several
selections on the Indians and careful attention to the Chinese, the
Puerto Ricans, the Jews and the Japanese illustrate the tone and
purpose of the compilation. The editors have avowedly emphasized
"the harsher aspects of minority group experiences in the United
States," and assert that "our emphasis on struggle and ordeal reveals
our concern about past and present group conflicts in American
society." Such concern is laudable, and it is doubtless healthy for
those who have felt discrimination in only its minor and fleeting
forms to be aware of the more desperate plight of other groups.
It may help all of us to greater tolerance and speed the day when
we can all really live as brothers. However, the reader must keep
in mind this deliberate bias, and realize that he is not getting here
a balanced picture of the immigrant or minority group experience.
FDS
Caja Munch, Johan Storm Munch, and Peter A. Munch (translator
and compiler), THE STRANGE AMERICAN WAY. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1970.
The first and longest section of the book consists of letters from
Wisconsin, chiefly those written by Caja Munch to her mother in
Norway during the years 1855 to 1859. The spontaneity and naivete
of the young bride are refreshing if scarcely profound; a picture
of frontier life bursts forth in little puffs. At first there is the
glamor and newness and a honeymoon atmosphere both with her
man and with the strange but friendly new country. However, dis­illusionment
grows rapidly, and disgust with the crudities of con­ditions
and of people — it is hardest to adjust to the latter. The
111